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The ACLU says an Army vet who grew up in Koreatown is in danger of deportation
U.S. Army veteran Yea Ji Sea stands outside a federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles ahead of a hearing to determine whether the government needs to speed up her citizenship application.
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Libby Denkmann / KPCC
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The ACLU says an Army vet who grew up in Koreatown is in danger of deportation
A U.S. Army veteran who grew up in Koreatown wants to become a U.S. citizen, but her application has been stalled for over two years.
29-year-old Yea Ji Sea first moved to the U.S. from South Korea when she was 9 years old. She later joined the Army through the MAVNI program, which offered a fast-track to citizenship for immigrants with special language and medical skills.
The Army discharged her earlier this month. That’s when the ACLU sued, asking the government to act on her application because she’s now vulnerable for deportation.
On Tuesday a federal judge set a September 5 deadline for the government to respond to Sea's application for naturalization.
In recent months, dozens of MAVNI recruits have been discharged and faced deportation. Some of them sued, and in July the Army suspended involuntary separations while the Department of Defense conducts a review.
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